Can’t believe it’s already here. 2005. Time to renew my drivers license. You think I want to head down to the DMV downtown and waste my time in line for 3 hours while they suck my soul away? Hardly. So I put it off and put it off. And just when I was ready, just when I had prepared myself mentally for the anguish that lie ahead of me, my boss let me in on a little secret: You don’t have to head downtown to renew your license. Just head to the facility down the road (Lake Cook Rd in Deerfield) and renew it there. Takes 20 minutes. Since licenses are a state-authorized ID, you can head to any DMV. Woohoo! I’m saved. In and out in 20 minutes. *I* get to keep my soul, ha ha!

Hey, did you know there’s a new video game set in Chicago? Neither did I, and I play a lot of video games. Oh, wait, we haven’t heard of it because it sucks ass. Chicago Enforcer for the XBOX (from Kemco! — doesn’t that sound like they might also make late-night-TV products like a salad tuner or a bikini pickler?) has made Joystiq’s Worst Games of 2005 (wait, isn’t it only September?). They came up with with their list by looking at the lowest ranked games on Metacritic, which combines scores from multiple reviews. Chicago Enforcer, set in 1930s Chicago, meta-scores an awesome 33 out of 100. Reviewers’ comments range from “Fails on so many levels” to “A terrible game” to “It truly manages to re-create what it must be like to be on the wrong end of a mob shakedown, because by the end of the experience, you’ll pretty much feel like you’ve had your head caved in with a lead pipe.”

I am a smoker who is currently trying to quit and nothing makes it harder to quit than being in a bar and seeing everyone around me lighting up and inhaling with glee. If the ban goes into effect it will actually improve my personal standard of living.

But I’m still against it.

I was in New York just before and just after the ban went into effect there and it sucked. Bars and clubs are meant to be smoked in. Period. I mean, if so many people are against smoking in a bar wouldn’t it make sense for a bar to open that caters to those folks? And if that line of thinking was correct wouldn’t that bar be cleaning up right now? Wouldn’t it be bursting at the seams with people who want to go to a bar without cigarettes?

That’s funny, in a capitalist economy like ours where demand produces supply I haven’t noticed any clubs like that opening up yet, have you?

As a Newcity alumnus I’m a bit partial, but every year the Reader consistently glosses over the Artwalk while Newcity regularly gives it the nod it deserves. As a matter of fact, I’ve reliably been able to see more in-depth features and mentions of “little guy” events in that publication than most of the others. They just seem to be better about ferreting out and spotlighting worthwhile goings on than the broad-stroke stuff.

I wish they had a bigger readership. They’re about as mom-and-pop a publication as it gets. The couple (an actual mom and pop) who own and run the magazine are avid supporters of the arts in every form and deserve our support in return.

I’m a fan. Try and pick one up from time to time if you haven’t been doing it up to now.